Fostina Dixon-Kilgoe

Fostina Dixon is a composer, vocalist and jazz soloist who plays soprano, alto and baritone saxes; flute; and clarinet. Ms. Dixon has been guest soloist with Abbey Lincoln, Barry Harris, Earl May and the Big Apple Jazzwomen. She has also played with Gil Evans, Roy Ayers, Tom Browne, Charlie Persip, Melba Liston, Cab Calloway, Slide Hampton, Frank Foster, Joe Williams, Nancy Wilson, Bobby Vinton, Sammy Davis, Jr., Prince, and Marvin Gaye, with whom she toured for four years. She was a member of the Gerald Wilson, Jimmy Cleveland and Leslie Drayton big bands. Fostina Dixon is a native of Wilmington, Delaware where she studied with the late Robert "Boysie" Lowery. As a young woodwind insrumentalist she played for the Delaware All-State Band and was selected for the American Young Symphonic Orchestra which toured Europe. She went on to study with such great musicians as Frank Foster, Buddy Colltet, Vic Morosco, Joe Viola, Andy McGhee and William Bowie. As a professional musician, she has performed at numerous clubs, colleges, libraries, churches, community art centers, New York's Jazzmobile concert series, theaters and toured abroad. Some of the festivals which her band "Winds of Change" has appeared at are New York's Annual Afrikan Street Carnival, the Annual New York Women's Jazz Festival, the Annual Black Women's History Conference, the Kool Jazz Festival, Greenwich Village Jazz Festival, and the Annual Jackie Robinson Festival in Norwalk, CT. She has also toured Germany, Austria, Italy, Belgium, France and the Netherlands several times. Also, Ms. Dixon has worked with and made television appearances for shows such as the popular "NY Undercover Cop" series, WNYC Channel 31s "Perspective in Jazz," NBCs "Today in New York" with Dr. Billy Taylor and a special TV presentation "Salute to Bobby Vinton." Fostina's extensive career has carried her into theatrical performances of the Musical Theatre Works production of "All Girl Band" and Playwrights Horizon production of "Jazz is a Lady." She has performed at the Women's International Film Festival in New York City and "Sisterfire," a festival in celebration of women artists sponsored by the Flamboyant Ladies Theatre Company. Fostina Dixon founded the Wilmington Youth Jazz Band in 2004. (www.wyjb.org), a non- profit organization for youths. Fostina has received a Christi Award for her contributions to promoting the arts in the community, an Outstanding Arts Educator award from the Delaware Board of Education, and an Outstanding Contributor award from the Council of Jazz Advocates for her work as an arts educator and the Founder and longtime Executive Director of the Wilmington Youth Jazz Band.

ABOUT THE MUSIC: Fostina Dixon’s soulful, jazzy, funky, gospel sound is as unique as it is mesmerizing. One of the few female jazz instrumentalists to front her own band, Winds of Change, the saxophonist, composer, vocalist and educator’s comeback album in 2016, “Here We Go Again” has garnered complimentary reviews. After a storied early career that included playing alongside such Jazz greats as Abbey Lincoln, Melba Liston, Frank Foster, James “Blood” Ulmer, Tom Browne, Roy Ayers, playing in the Gerald Wilson Big Band, touring with Marvin Gaye and many other experiences too vast to mention, Fostina has made significant contributions to the arts and education scenes. Some artists Fostina has recorded with are James Blood Ulmer, Frank Foster, Roy Ayers, The Fat Boys, Major Holley, and Leslie Drayton's Big Band. She has worked as a studio musician for HEA Productions, Inc. and done many radio and TV commercials. Frequently, Ms. Dixon has taught music for elementary and high school in the New York, Los Angeles and Wilmington areas, as well as, several cultural centers, churches, the New School and New York University.

Awards

2009 Christie Award Winner. October of 2009 awarded by the Board of Education in Delaware for Outstanding Art Educator.Awarded Outstanding Contributor to the World by Council of Jazz Advocates 2006. Nominated International Woman of the Year, 2001. Honoreee of Afro-American Historical Society of DE, 1999. Awarded Eubie Blake Award by Dr. Billy Taylor. Featured in numerous books: Black Women and Music:More than the Blues, Black Women in America Bands and Orchestras, The Genuine American Music, American Women in Jazz and more...